Sunday 18 November 2012

Where's Your Big Society Gone...?

Obviously newspaper reports always have to be taken with a slight pinch of salt, however in the Telegraph:
In a speech to the CBI, the Prime Minister will say that the legal right to ask for a judge to review controversial planning decisions will be sharply curbed, declaring: “We urgently need to get a grip on this.
Mr Cameron will argue that the rules are being abused to frustrate economically vital developments and will say a “massive growth industry” of seeking judicial reviews of planning decisions has been fuelled by solicitors and campaign groups.

Many applicants are guilty of “time-wasting” and bringing “hopeless cases” simply to waste developers’ time, the Prime Minister will say. He will outline a number of changes the Government wants to make, including shortening the three-month time limit on applying for a review.

Charges for an application will rise “so people think twice about time-wasting.” The number of possible appeals against decisions will also be cut from four to two.
Hmm strange tone considering what he said just 2 years ago (my emphasis):
David Cameron will announce this morning that he hopes to liberate four areas from the strictures of red tape and central government as he attempts to deliver his idea of the "Big Society".
[Vanguard communities] may have central government budgets handed over to them to administer at street level, attempt to improve local transport links themselves, take over command of local assets such as pubs and community services, have a greater say over planning permission or local transport and, in the case of Liverpool, allow volunteers to keep a popular local museum open for longer hours.
Cameron will say in a speech in Liverpool: "Yes, there will be problems – financial problems, legal problems, bureaucratic problems. Yes, there will be objections – local objections, objections from vested interests. But you know what? We're happy about that. This process is all about learning. It's about pushing power down and seeing what happens. It's about unearthing the problems as they come up on the ground and seeing how we can get round them. It's about holding our hands up, saying 'We haven't got all the answers. Let's work them out, together.'"
If I make stuff up as I go along, treat everyone as though they're stupid and be incompetent can I earn £142,500 per annum?

6 comments:

  1. "If I make stuff up as I go along, treat everyone as though they're stupid and be incompetent can I earn £142,500 per annum?"

    No silly, you need a democratic mandate....

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  2. I wonder whether anyone will remember that a couple of months back, we were being promised a relaxation of the planning laws, so that we could all add great big extentions onto the backs of our little boxes....

    ...I remarked at the time in various blogs and news articles that this was probably nothing to do with us, and everything to do with windmills and the urgent requirement (for reasons of grift) for a free hand in the building of another 30,000 of the buggers.

    As you may remember, a couple of weeks after the amoebic Cameron announced the policy, it was trashed by the bureaucracy...

    ...I guarantee that this one won't be, it was the original destination.

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  3. @right_writes "No silly, you need a democratic mandate.... "

    Lol yeah sorry I forgot. And you're probably, and depressingly, right about the hidden reasons.

    @bingobax@gmail.com Thanks...I try my best

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  4. Relaxation of the laws? We're kidding ourselves.

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  5. Well, they're in a bit of a hurry now to implement the EU's Spacial Environment initiative and Agenda 21 - gotta put the rest of the world somewhere in this country. They're gradually distributing them into rural areas - the last bastions of 'hideous whiteness'; hence the urge to get rid of the green belt.

    David

    ReplyDelete